Reflections

"Blessed, O blessed, I say are those who walk upon a path whose steps are  firmly planted on your eternal law, For in that word they find their joy, their meditation day and night, and do not wander far to take the counsels of the worldly wise." --Psalm 1:1 Ancient...

"But where can wisdom be found?     Where does understanding dwell?" - Job 28:12 Job is Everyone. So the Rabbi's say. Job is everyone who has ever suffered. Job is everyone who has ever questioned the reason for their pain. Job is you. Job is me. Job is the "Why?" in...

"They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.” - Nehemiah 6:9 (NIV) Nehemiah worries me All that talk of building a wall, and enforcing segregation...

"For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises."  - I Chronicles 17:19 The Book of Chronicles recites the story of the people of God and their pilgrimage through the wilderness. Once...

Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”  - II Kings 5:3 The fifth chapter belongs to him. It's his story. Naaman, powerful commander of the army, friend of the King of Aram,...

"The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord  that he spoke by Elijah."    I Kings 17:16 (NRSV) Elijah, the prophet, comes out of the desert - where the river beds have turned to dust and the ravens no longer...

"Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly."  1 Samuel 1:10 When I lived in Israel I loved to go to the Western Wall, an ancient limestone wall remnant of the second temple, a place of prayer and pilgrimage for Jewish people. I’d sit in...

“So [Naomi] set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.” - Ruth 1:7 (NRSV) And together they walk. Noami already walked this road. Years ago, during the famine in...

"Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was a leader of Israel at that time. She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraim highlands, and the Israelites would come to her to settle disputes.'   - Joshua 4:4,5 (CEB)  If you are...

"The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain."  - Deuteronomy 1:6  There are many significant verses in this Book, which is all about the covenant between God and the people, but this verse in the opening chapter tugged...

And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” - Numbers 21:8 (NRSV) There's not much food in the wilderness. That's no surprise. There's not much water either. No surprise. Taking a...

"Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."   - Leviticus 19:2 (NIV) Oh my, Leviticus, why are you in the Bible? Oh my, Leviticus, with your instructions for the Levite priests, what to...